US state stem cell policy update

April 24, 2007

Florida’s Senate Commerce Committee has approved two amendments to the constitution; one that provides for $20 million a year for ten years for stem cell research, including research using human embryos, and another, the ‘Florida Hope Offered through Principled, Ethically Sound Stem Cell Research Act’ – the ‘HOPE Act’ – which would ban state funding for embryonic stem (ES) cell research whilst funding research using cells harvested from other sources, such as umbilical cord blood. (BioNews)